Jewel White goes for fourth-straight double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds; freshman center Jessica Hurd has nice game with eight points and seven rebounds

BOXSCORE

RINDGE, N.H. (January 11, 2011) -- The Franklin Pierce University women's basketball team picked up its second-straight home win Tuesday night with a convincing 85-52 victory over New Haven at The Fieldhouse in Rindge. The Ravens improved to 11-5 overall and 7-3 in the Northeast-10, while the Chargers dipped to 2-12 and 1-9 in league play.

Four Ravens scored in double-figures, including freshman guard Brittany Martelle (Brookfield, Conn.), who came off the bench to toss in a team-high 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the floor, including a 4-of-6 effort from behind the arc. Martelle also totaled six assists, five steals and four rebounds.

Junior center Jewel White (Worcester, Mass.) logged her fourth-straight double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds, while also recording three steals and one block.

Juniors Lekia Cowen (Hopedale, Mass.) and Marielle Giroud (Martigny, Switzerland) each chipped in with 12 points apiece for the Ravens, who shot 52 percent (33-of-63) from the field as a team. Giroud had an all-around solid game as she had five assists, four rebounds, three steals and a block to go along with her double-digit point total.

The Ravens out-rebounded the Chargers by a margin of 44-31, including getting seven rebounds from freshman center Jessica Hurd (Kegworth, England). Hurd also posted the best game of her young career with eight points, three assists, two steals and a blocked shot.

Franklin Pierce did not just play well offensively, but also defensively, as the Ravens limited New Haven to just 29 percent shooting (18-of-61) and forced the Chargers into 25 turnovers. Overall, Franklin Pierce forced 19 steals and eight of the nine players who played in the game swiped at least one theft.

Franklin Pierce did get off to slow start and trailed, 14-7, five minutes into the contest. But that was the only blemish on this night as the Ravens shook off the sluggish play and used a 19-4 run over the next seven minutes to take a 26-18 advantage with 8:00 to go in the first half. Giroud, White and sophomore guard Tiffany Johnson (St. Albans, Vt.) each laid in a basket to kick-start the run and Martelle followed by bombing in back-to-back triples to aid the surge.

Cowen drained one of her three treys moments later and the Ravens opened up a double-digit advantage at 34-23 with 5:27 left in the opening stanza. Franklin Pierce continued to add to its lead throughout the remaining minutes of the first half and took a 50-30 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Giroud had 10 points in the first 20 minutes. Franklin Pierce also owned a 20-10 advantage in points in the paint and a 10-2 advantage in fast-break points.

New Haven would not threaten in the second half as the Ravens led by as many as 35 points in pulling away for the victory. All nine Ravens that played in the game scored at least two points. Freshman guard Kate McDonald (Fall River Mass.) added nine points, and Johnson did so as well.

Franklin Pierce returns to action Saturday when the Ravens travel to Southern Connecticut State to face the Owls at 1:30 p.m.

For more information on Franklin Pierce women's basketball, please visit the team's page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) To follow the program even further, please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceAthletics).